It's more truthful than you think!

A big question is how truthful are people being on their blogs. Are they truly representing themselves? Is this person putting their truthful opinions about this product? According to the article "How will Facebook change politics," political messages used to talk down to people. Now, people are blogging about politics. I think this goes for anything, not just politics. When companies used to sell products, some of the main ways they found out how they were doing were by sales and if a person decided to give feedback about the products. Not much to go on!!!

However, today you can blog about whatever you want. Blogs were started as a way for a person to put down their thoughts about absolutely anything. I think people are more likely to write what they think than make up something, even though there are those who do make everything up. In the example of companies, they can check out these blogs or even have their own blogs for people to put comments on how they are doing or how they like their products. It's easier and faster, so why not?

"Are political blogs a social network in themselves? I would say so (Sunny)." I think any kind of network that allows people to write comments about their opinions is a social network to some extent. I mean we are writing blog posts because we have to for a class, but wouldn't you say you are putting your truthful opinions into what you are writing?

My Blog Resume?

So apparently your blog is a new way for companies to look at a person for a potential job. Is this a good thing? I think right now it looks like it could be, but then again when you started a Facebook account, you probably never thought it could be used against you when job searching. I'm guessing the same could be for blogs, however, blogs could be helpful at the same time. I think it's similar to social networks in that you need to be careful in what you put out there, but at the same time, your thoughts could get you notice.

According to nytimes.com and monster, there is a list of 10 simple rules when looking for employees, some of which include the person's attitude, sense of humor, and someone who you can change in terms of skills. It is hard to find a person that can be changed in terms of personality, but you can train them in certain skills. You could easily see someone's attitude or sense of humor by looking at their blog and getting a feel for what they think about certain topics. Blogging is a new way to compete with people who are searching for the same type of job.

Are you the Queen of Googlers?

How much information is there out on the internet about people? Too much it seems in some cases. Dr. Scott Haig was seeing a potential patient and found she had been searching information about him. "Susan had chosen me because she had researched my education, read a paper I had written, determined my university affiliation and knew where I lived. It was a little too much — as if she knew how stinky and snorey I was last Sunday morning."

What constitutes as invading one's privacy? One blogger, nicoles7183 said: " AN IDEA: Don't put anything out there that you do not want certain people to see!" I definitely think this is true, but what about when, as in the example of the doctor, you can find out where someone lives or personal information you didn't put out there for people to see. As I've mentioned in past blogs, I think you need to be careful of what you do at work because you are being tracked and don't put information about yourself on the internet that you don't want others to see. But there is other information somehow getting out and who has control of that?

You can Google someone and almost find something out about everyone. That is kind of scary and especially in the case of Susan, who needs to be assured that she is getting someone who can help her. Yet she is getting information that isn't relevant to Dr. Haig's profession and shouldn't be available to a potential patient when it isn't their business. What should be done about that? Further, what can be done about it?

Fly with the Best

I was working on my first assignment and as I was reading the different company blogs, I was noting down what the different ones were like and how they were the same and how they were different. They were interesting in their own way, but once I got into the Southwest Airlines company blog, I couldn't stop reading the blogs. As a flier of Southwest, I was curious of what the blog would be like, especially because they are so different and very fun. I got the same type of feeling when I read the blog posts.

They have a variety of different types of blogs, varying from humorous pick up lines, to the integrity of the airlines, to how a woman became an employee for Southwest Airlines. I've been flying with southwest for almost four years now and every once in a while I've seen southern singing flight attendants, ones who crack jokes throughout the whole safety speech, and those who have random conversations on the intercom. Even the labels of the blog posts were interesting, such as "nutty stuff" and "under the hood." I got the same entertaining, friendly feeling reading their posts. Most of the posts from other companies were written by CEO's and higher management, but Southwest posts were written by a variety of employees.

I highly recommend reading Southwests' Blog. If you ever have enjoyed their flights or don't really know about the company, this should give you a good idea of what they are about.

Important or Self-centered?

"Self-obsession, politics of hate, and the same hunger for fame that has people lining up to trade punches on The Jerry Springer Show (Blogs Will Change Your Business)." How would you describe a blog? I know of many people who have blogs and that is fine. However, I find that blogs are just another way for people to blab on about themselves or just random, pointless thoughts for endless hours. I understand the interest and importance of blogs when people went abroad or just wanted to keep memories because it's a good way to remember your experiences, but other than that, I find them a waste of time. And as one of the articles pointed out, not many people even read blogs anymore; about only "27% of Internet users in America now bother to read them."

I never thought about using blogging to help a business, but when thinking about it, it makes perfect sense. Before, people were given some kind of form to fill out and send back to the company, often with an already stamped envelope. But when looking at that way of getting feedback, it is a huge inconvenience for many people. With the internet today and with many people being so chatty about the most random things, it is an extremely easy and quick way to put your thoughts out there about a product or service.

I still wonder, however, how many people will actually do this. Personally, I still don't have that much interest in blogging, other than perhaps writing down memories, but those would be for me and my friends and not out there for the public eye to read. However, I wonder if this will drag more people out to read blogs. I think that blogs will be good for businesses in getting more feedback on how they are doing and what customers think of them. I don't think it would make much of a difference, but then again, that could be due to the fact that I don't really like blogs. What are your thoughts?